Daily News Channel
Financial crisis-stricken Iceland formally applied for European Union membership on Friday, a day after lawmakers narrowly backed a government plan to take the island nation into the economic and political bloc. A copy of the application was submitted to the Swedish government, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, Iceland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs confirmed in a statement
Peru’s Congress voted overwhelmingly to revoke two decrees that indigenous groups had said would result in the exploitation of their native lands for oil drilling, mining and logging. The 82-14 vote on Thursday with no abstentions came after five hours of intense debate. “Today is a historic day,” said Daysi Zapata, vice president of the Interethnic Association for Development of the Peruvian Jungle, in a statement on the group’s Web site
A Socialist was elected for the first time as Basque regional president on Tuesday, ending decades of pro-independence Basque nationalist rule in northern Spain.